Painting Collection Jean Dubuffet Milady (1901—1985) An innovator and an outlier in the history of modern art, Jean Dubuffet challenged traditional methods of artmaking throughout his career. The French artist championed an aggressive artistic style called Art Brut, which rejected formal notions of beauty and relied on the subconscious, finding inspiration in the art of outsiders, children, and the mentally ill. Dubuffet painted Milady in 1961 as part of his “Paris Circus” series, which focuses on Paris, the city’s inhabitants, and urban scenes. The fleshy figure in Milady is flattened but frenzied, surrounded by undulating outlines that vibrate the skin, depicted in blotches of vivid color. The woman shown is smiling grotesquely with stunted arms reaching outward, floating on an undefined, abstract background. In this painting, Dubuffet might have been offering his own version of the nude, upsetting classical notions of female beauty from art history. The title Milady could also be referencing The Three Musketeers, the popular French novel by Alexandre Dumas, in which one of the main characters—Milady—is cast as the stereotypical femme fatale. A French version of the adapted film came out in 1961, the same year Dubuffet created this work. |
  
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